There’s always room for chocolate, especially when they’re in the form of peanut butter cups! And with this recipe, you’re just 6 ingredients and 30 minutes away from making your own.
BY: JESSICA KELLEY, MS, RD
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. These little treats are the perfect way to satisfy your sweet tooth. They’re lightly sweetened, rich in minerals and full of peanut butter.
Enough said, am I right?
Before getting into the recipe, let’s get to know what makes chocolate so great. Derived from cacao, which gives chocolate it’s bitter taste, dark chocolate is touted as a superfood, and with good reason.
- Antioxidants – most notably flavonoids and polyphenols. These compounds help fight your free radicals that contribute to inflammation, aging, and other diseases like heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.
- Minerals – high in magnesium, iron, zinc, potassium, phosphorus and copper.
When choosing cacao powder or chocolate, look for raw cacao or the darkest chocolate possible (70% cacao or higher). This ensures the cacao or chocolate has been through less processing and retains the most antioxidants and beneficial nutrients. Cacao butter allows the chocolate to be stable at room temperature, unlike coconut butter or coconut oil.
For these dark chocolate peanut butter cups, you can opt to make your own homemade chocolate with a few simple ingredients – cacao butter, cacao powder, and coconut nectar. While this process takes slightly longer than just melting a quality chocolate bar over the stove or in the microwave, it can feel incredibly rewarding knowing that these little treats were made 100% from scratch.
The whole process only takes about 30 minutes, including a little bit of chill time to set the chocolate base.
If you have a little free time and want to get your loved ones in the kitchen, or make a homemade gift for someone you care for, definitely give these dark chocolate peanut butter cups a go! If you don’t have the time to make your own, you can definitely just melt down a high-quality chocolate bar.
And if peanut butter isn’t your thing or you’re feeling a bit adventurous, feel free to substitute your favorite nut butter. Because certain nut butters have a runnier consistency than others, you may need to adjust the coconut flour accordingly. If you are using unsalted nut butter, consider adding a pinch or two of salt to the filling.
INGREDIENTS
Makes 12 servings
Dark Chocolate Chocolate
- 1/2 cup (60g) cacao butter, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup (40g) cacao powder
- 3-4 tablespoons coconut nectar or liquid sweetener of choice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Filling
- 1/3 cup (80g) peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons (18g) coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon coconut nectar or other liquid sweetener
For the full recipe and instructions, head over to the original article.
HEADER IMAGE: JESSICA KELLEY
Jessica Kelley, MS, RD is a Registered Dietitian based in St. Louis, MO. She promotes a healthy lifestyle that focuses on wholesome, natural ingredients to fuel our everyday lives to lay the foundation for balance without obsessing over numbers or fad diets. Read more from Jessica at Nourished by Nutrition.